CRED acquihires Y Combinator-backed micro-investment app Spenny

Credit card rewards fintech CRED has 'acquihired' Y Combinator-backed micro saving and investment app Spenny at an undisclosed amount.

Rathin Shah, Co-founder of Spenny, confirmed the development to YourStory over a call.

Shah, along with team members from Spenny, which had sunset its app, would be joining CRED's product team.

"The work @Cred_Club and @Kunalb11 have done to inculcate +ve financial behavior has been an inspiration. We're excited to start a new journey working with the kickass team @Cred_Club to take this mission forward. Onwards & upwards!" the co-founder further shared on LinkedIn.

Started in 2019 by Rathin Shah and Gaurav Arora, the Bengaluru-based investment app rounds off users' spare change from online transactions and automatically invests them in digital gold and mutual funds. Its operational model is similar to fellow Y Combinator-supported app Gullak and Tiger Global-backed Jar app.

In March 2023, Spenny announced phasing out its Android and iOS app and recommended that its customers withdraw or migrate funds to apps like Groww. Meanwhile, it collaborated with Lendbox, a P2P NBFC, for funds transfer and investment.

“This was not an easy decision for us, but we believe it is necessary," Spenny had mentioned on its website.

Sequoia and Tiger Global-backed CRED, which offers users to manage and pay their credit card and other bills, along with access to D2C brands and loans, had previously partnered with LiquiLoans to launch CRED Mint—a service that allows the fintech's customers to lend to one another at an interest rate of up to 9% annually.

CRED had invested about $10 million in its partner, which marked its foray into P2P lending. It has also invested in lender CredAvenue and expense management platform HapPay.

Among the recent deals, the fintech had announced the acquisition of Hyderabad-based SaaS player CreditVidya, which offers lending-as-a-service to expand its lending offerings.

(The story was updated with clarification and additional information from the company.)